Political storm breaks at council meeting

A STORM broke at the monthly meeting of Warrington Borough Council when Liberal Democrat councillors refused to support a motion Labour claimed would result in a fairer and more efficient tax system – but put forward their own motion calling for a new BBC radio station for Cheshire.
Cllr Hitesh Patel (pictured) – who had proposed the Labour motion – said: “This shows the gulf between what Labour councillors think is important and what the Coalition councillors think is important.
” We put forward a motion to have a fairer and more efficient tax system because we live in a time where public services are being slashed, NHS waiting times are going through the roof and our residents are really struggling to make ends meet and many are having to rely on food banks.
“In contrast the Lib Dems put forward a motion to lobby the BBC to create a Radio Cheshire station. Is that really what’s important to Warrington’s residents?
“In the last five years of the previous Labour government there was a big push in getting people and businesses to pay their fair share of taxes and we saw the ‘Tax Gap’, this is the shortfall in taxes owed which have not been collected, fall by 20 per cent to £31 billion.
“Contrast this with the actions and policies of the Coalition Government during the last four years where we have seen the funding of HM Revenue and Customs being slashed, every single one of its 281 walk-in enquiry centres being closed down and now, according to the Public Communication and Services Union, the government is proposing to cut a further 10,000 jobs over the next 2 years.
“The net result is that the ‘tax gap’ has grown by a massive 10 per cent and now stands at £34 billion. That’s an extra £3 billion that has been lost to the country per year. This equates to £10 million pounds worth of public services that has been lost to the people of Warrington because of this Coalition Government’s failure to make people and businesses pay their fair share of taxes.”
Cllr Maureen McLaughlin added: “People in Warrington understand that we need to cut back our spending, and appreciate that times are difficult. What they don’t understand is when the cuts hit the people who need help the most at a time when others are getting away with not paying their fair share.
Despite the lack of support from coalition councillors the Labour motion was passed.
The Liberal Democrat motion for a BBC Cheshire radio station, to fill in the “missing piece of the jigsaw” – Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria but no Cheshire – was defeated with no support from Labour or Conservative.
Cllr Mike Hannon, deputy leader of the council, said the council would do better to offer support to the Radio Warrington community radio station which had been broadcasting online for several years but had now been granted a licence to broadcast on air as well.